Mini Photoshoot

A friend of mine had a photographer come to her house to do mini sessions for $50... I thought it was a great deal to have professional pics taken so we signed up. I'm glad it was only $50 because Brynn was NOT into this at all. This picture still came out pretty cute.

Brooky had everyone laughing as usual!

and this one pretty much sums up our session! LOL - I'm sure we'll all laugh at this for years to come!

Brynn's 1st People Drawing!!

Brynn drew her first people today!!! I showed her mine (top right) and then she took off to create her own! So proud of her.

This is Brooky's version of arts and crafts... drawing all over herself and eating paint. Her kind of fun!

Brynn's been wanting to draw a picture of her family for her baby brother. She got the idea from a TV show, Daniel Tiger. His Mommy had a baby this week and he drew a picture for her room. So cute - I can't wait to hang it in our little boy's room!!

1st Day of School!

Brynn started "school" (speech) with Ms. Ali on Tuesday August 19th. She was SO excited to go and put her summer homework in her backpack the night before. Here's our little photo shoot before we left. 

Brooky giving out good luck hugs to her big sis!

After she worked on her words she was able to play with bubbles

On our walk back to the car. At this school, you enter all the classrooms from the outside. Much different from what I grew up with! This isn't the school that the girls will be going to when they start kindergarten.

As you can see, this is the day we got TONS of rain - it was a crazy weather day. Flooded streets & freeways everywhere!

After school, we celebrated at Cinnabons! Brynn's favorite treat :)

They dug right in!

Happy Birthday Brynn!!

It's her birthday!!! It's about time. For days/weeks she's been asking "how many days", "how many quiet times", "how many dark times is that?!" It's finally here! She put on her Elsa gear as soon as she woke up!

I also thought I was being sneaky and put her presents on top of the fridge. Not sure what I was thinking because she spotted them as soon as she woke up & from that point she wanted to open them ALL. We spread them out throughout the day. Here she is waiting for her first one. 

"Open your eyes!" - notice Brooklyn's outfit. Typical...

Then we had french toast - complete with a candle of course. Brooky again has no clothes. She'll either keep her hair in or clothes, but not both. 

More presents!!!

and then it was time to swim!

A friend of ours brought over the life jacket and swimmies so we would have something!

Ready to go out to Brynn's favorite restaurant - Sauce - for her birthday dinner!

She couldn't wait!

This one's got something up her sleeve!

Crazy girl!

After eating it was time for the entire restaurant to sing Happy Birthday to her with her donut dessert! I knew she wouldn't eat any of the desserts they had so I had called ahead and they said it wasn't a problem if we wanted to bring our own. It's also not the kind of restaurant where they typically sing (you order at counter and they bring food to your table), but they promised they would get everyone in the birthday spirit for us! They really came through!!! There must have been 10-15 employees there to wish Brynn a Happy 4th Birthday!!! So sweet!

Of course Brooklyn needed her own as well.

Back home for more presents! I'd say this girl had the BEST 4th Birthday that lasted over a week! and she got a new house as well! - with the biggest room, walk in closet AND a mountain view. Not bad for a 4 year old!

Birthday tickles from Brooky!

Little Fish...

On Thursday in between trying to unpack and take a million trips back and forth to our old house getting more boxes and cleaning, the girls could NOT wait to go swimming. They were in their bathing suits at 6:15am! They LOVE the pool and I can't wait until we get the pool fence!!!! I'm so nervous!

It's great how there's a big landing area when you first go in so they can touch and splash away. 

We're Moving!

The movers were here bright and early...

and we were ready to pig out on donuts. Probably the highlight of the day. Actually it WAS the highlight of they day!

The girls love donuts! It's an every once in a while treat for them.

Then we got to work... well, this is where she thought she'd strap herself in for the day! Goofball

They haven't played on the Ipad's for a while, so it was the perfect day to whip them out. They really were SO good - the next day too since Thursday turned out to be just as long and exhausting - maybe even worse! UGH

I think we all felt like this by the end of the day - only the big people didn't get to bed before midnight both nights. Exhausted is an understatement. 

Almost Moving Day...

With all the packing going on, the kids have been getting a little stir crazy. We decided to take them to Playgrounds - an indoor playground and they love it here!

Here comes Brooky!

Whee! They're so cute because they really do stick together and watch out for one another while we're out now.

and this was about the speed that she kept up the entire 2 hours that we were there. and STILL no nap!!

"Let it Go!" "Let it Go!"... Brynn's Birthday Party = MAGICAL!

Early on the birthday party morning... this girl had been SO excited for her birthday for weeks. It's finally here!!! 

Our little Anna & Elsa!

It was one surprise after another... first was the balloons. She had wanted an Elsa balloon but I told her that we'd probably just get blue balloons because those Elsa balloons are pretty expensive. Well, we sent Daddy for the balloons and he came back with like 15 balloons!!!! Anna, Olaf AND Elsa were included! Brynn flipped out!

She kept running around saying, "My Daddy's the BEST!"

Happy birthday girl

It's almost time and everything is ready... the goody bags

The decorations are up... 

and here come our friends! Everyone came in costume - princess dresses and even a Sven!

Our neighbor, Sophi, couldn't come to the party but she walked over to give Brynn her gift - very sweet!

We played - Pin the nose on Olaf...

Some of the gang!

and opened lots of presents!! Brynn was very careful to keep her loot in nice little piles.

Brooklyn took over as the photographer! She cracks me up. As soon as our guest of honor arrived, she ran and got her camera and started snapping away!

We ate pizza, cleaned up and THEN...

The doorbell rang!!!! Elsa was here! It took all I had not to cry. The look on Brynn's face was priceless and she turned around and said, "Mom, Elsa's here!" Seriously the cutest thing ever!

Elsa was amazing with all the kids! 

They were in heaven

First she read a book

and then it was time to sing. This was amazing! She had a beautiful voice and then to hear all the little girls singing right along with her was angelic. Even my friends who don't cry - were tearing up! I didn't feel so bad! :)

They couldn't take their eyes off her

Then she played a few games with the kids. 

Before leaving, she sang Happy Birthday with us to Brynn and carried out the cake for her. Brynn LOVED this cake. Her face lit up when she saw this!

Make a wish girl! I know her wish already came true!!

Elsa and Brynn... Elsa kept telling her how much she looked like her! 

Thanks for coming Elsa and making our dreams come true!!

After she left, we dug into the cake. It was delicious!

This was probably Brooky's favorite part! She sat at the table requesting more pieces well after everyone left! Brynn was so sweet when she passed out everyone's goody bags. She said, "thank you for coming to my party" to each and every friend. It's cute how into it she gets!